A Beautiful Stranger
by The Girl Who Flys
Summary: Young Anna dreams up her future husband. Adult Anna realizes that she pretty much hit the mark.


"Mama? What does 'fair' mean?"

The Queen of Arendelle set aside the letter she was reading to look at her younger daughter Anna, standing in the doorway to the library, clutching a book of fairy tales in her hands. She held out her hands in invitation. Anna giggled excitedly and ran to her mother, climbing up into her lap.

"Show me where you read that," the Queen said. Anna flipped through the pages of her book, face scrunching up in concentration.

"There!" Anna said triumphantly. "'And then in the dark of night, when all hope seemed lost, the princess saw him! A beautiful stranger, tall and fair. Here was her knight, her destiny, her love!'" Anna looked up at her mother again. "What does fair mean? I know when you're supposed to _play _fair, but she's not even playing a game."

The Queen smiled down at Anna, amused. "Fair is a way to describe someone's looks," she explained. "Someone fair would have light skin and light hair."

"So he's _blond,_" Anna realized. She considered this for a few long moments. "I like blond hair."

"I do, too." The Queen kissed the top of Anna's head gently and read over her shoulder, enjoying the little bit of quiet time they had together. With Anna, quiet time never lasted that long. Sure enough, barely a minute later, Anna looked up at her mother and decided "One day, when I meet my future husband, he'll be a beautiful stranger tall and fair."

"You can't know that, darling. You haven't even met your future husband yet," the Queen reminded Anna gently.

"Yes, I can. I _know _it's gonna happen, Mama." She sighed, a dreamy look on her face, as if she could already picture who this man was. "He's gonna have blond hair and he'll be tall. Like really, _really _tall. Taller than you and Papa!"

"My goodness! How _ever_ will you manage to kiss him if he's so tall?"

Anna rolled her eyes. "I'll stand up on my _toes, _Mama," she said as if it were painfully obvious. "And I'll be in _heels. _Besides, if he loves me, he can bend down some. And when we meet, I'll be wearing a beautiful gown, he'll fall head over heels for me, and we'll go on an _adventure._"

"He sounds exciting." She poked at Anna's sides, tickling the young girl. "I thought you said last week that you wanted to marry a troll."

Anna's face fell. "Well I've dreamt about a troll kissing me so I thought he'd be my husband…" she bit her lip, deep in thought. Then her face lit up again. "What if I find a beautiful, tall, and fair _troll?_ Maybe _he's _my future husband."

"Maybe so. But you still have a few years yet until you're even allowed to think about marriage."

Yes, marriage was still a long way off. For now, she wanted to keep Anna just as she was: a little girl who could still sit in her mother's lap to read fairy tales.

* * *

Both Elsa and Kristoff enjoyed this part of the day before dinner. Kristoff was stretched out on the sofa, freshly washed and clothed after a long day of harvesting, drifting in and out of sleep. Elsa was seated in a chair by the fire, engrossed in a novel. Both of the soon-to-be in laws were enjoying the quiet. Though they both knew it wouldn't last long.

"Elsa! Elsa! Look what I found!" Anna yelled, running into the library. Elsa put her book down beside her. Kristoff jerked up, mumbling a sleepy hello to his fiancée as he rubbed the sleep away from his eyes.

"What is it?" Elsa asked as Anna shoved some papers into her hands. They were tied up with strings and slightly bent and dusty, but the writing, though juvenile, she recognized as Anna's.

"It's a story I wrote when I was little," she explained. "About what my future husband was going to be like."

Kristoff finally looked up at that announcement. "Wait, what?" He stretched out his arm, trying to take the papers from Elsa, who held it out of his reach. "Come on, I need to see this. We're getting married soon. I need to see if I measure up to this dream husband of yours."

"As a matter of fact, you do," Anna said proudly.

Elsa's brow furrowed in confusion. "Anna, you said here that you were going to marry a _troll_." Kristoff snorted and Anna stuck her tongue out at him.

"Not just _any _troll. I said I would marry a troll that was both tall and fair."

"Oh!" Elsa realized. "You're right. Kristoff matches up perfectly."

Kristoff frowned. "I don't know if you're insulting me or not."

"Don't you _see _Kristoff?" Anna said, dropping to her knees on the floor beside him. "You're tall and _fair,_" she paused, playing with a few strands of his blonde hair, "and you were raised by trolls. They're your family so in a way, you're kind of like an honorary troll. I was right about what my future husband would be like."

Kristoff shook his head, his eyes slipping closed again. "You're crazy."

"And yet you still asked me to marry you. Who's the crazy one now?"

"Still you. _Hey!_" Kristoff complained when Anna smacked his arm. "Okay, fine, we're _both _crazy. Better?"

"Better."


End file.
